Unions want ONTERA documents

By:
Northern Ontario Business staff

Brian Kelly, GCA spokesperson.

Representatives from the General
Chairperson's Association (GCA) which represents all unionized
employees at Ontario Northland (ONTC) have been denied by
Infrastructure Ontario access to the recent request for proposal
(RFP) documents in regards to the contemplated sell-off of
provincially owned ONTERA.

"Premier Kathleen Wynne's Throne
Speech outlined her government's willingness to hear all the voices
of this province and work to prevent mistakes before they occur. That
message, while still fresh, has not made its way down to the
bureaucrats. Today we wrote to (the) premier, Finance Minister
Charles Sousa, Infrastructure Ontario Minister Glen Murray and
Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle, requesting
that they instruct Infrastructure Ontario to release the ONTERA RFP
documents," said Brian Kelly, GCA spokesperson.

In March 2012, in announcing the
sell-off of the ONTC, including the cancellation of the Northlander
passenger train, then Minister of Northern Development and Mines Rick
Bartolucci assured everyone that "our government will be fair,
open and transparent as we proceed with this transition".

"There's approximately $125M in
outstanding severance, pension and benefits owed to management,
unionized employees, retirees and surviving spouses who need to be
assured those earned benefits are fully protected in any potential
transaction," said Kelly.